30 years of direct marketing test results have conclusively taught me the power of TV (and now online video) to move product on its own and to drive sales in every other channel. My experience is that TV and video need to be at the center of your marketing programs. Not social. Not display. Not PPC. TV and/or Video. And here’s why.

First, the shift in consuming content has made video the new copy. Visitors are reading as much as they are watching. Video = copy.

As for persuasiveness, TV and online video have the power to move people in large numbers and with great efficiency. Move them emotionally. Move them to order your product or service online or by phone. Move them to drive to the store and pick it up.

Online video is posting mind-numbing viewership numbers. I understand that nearly 60% of all data is deemed to be video. Faster networks and smarter phones and tablets put video into the hands of everyone, all the time.

TV LIFTS ALL BOATS

At Time Life we saw year after year TV not only deliver profitable business and add millions of fresh names to the database but it undoubtably lifted direct mail, print, and telemarketing results.

With Pedigree Puppy food we tested this in a matched market test running TV in 3 markets and no TV in 3 similar markets. As expected all channels including search, retail and direct mail delivered better results in the markets where the message about their Puppy program was being sold with video of cute puppies on wobbly legs jumping on, kissing and licking their owners.  Only video can do this.

THE MATCHED MARKET TEST

Now with the ability to embed search insights into all your video it’s even more precise and powerful.  The question, of course, is how much TV do you run and at what cost. That’s what direct marketers do well – test your TV in a well-planned and executed matched market test. The matched market test will give you the answer to the always elusive question.

Video can – and should be – embedded in display ads. In email. On websites. On landing pages. In social media. At point of sale at retail.  At the heart of a search program. And on TV.

In addition, with production costs way down every marketer can tap this tremendous power.

YOUR MARKETING FOOTBALL TEAM

If your marketing program was a football team, TV/Video would be the quarterback. The head coach would be e-commerce. The front office would be retail. The offensive line, direct mail, print and inserts. The defensive line your hard-charging sales team. The D-backs would be radio and outdoor. The running back and wideouts would be social media like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and dozens more.

And with a talented QB in charge, the whole operation runs better. TV and Online Video will lead the way.

Now you just need to find a group to put all this together for you.  Click here.

832 DRTV spots and counting.  There’s simply no one in the industry with this much experience, this much success.

30 years in direct marketing has trained us well for today’s offline/online, accountable advertising campaigns. We create TV spots that drive traffic to a landing page that we have designed and tested to maximize response and conversion.

800+ spots have taught us the 4 key elements that every piece of creative content must have to hit profitability. (Hint: SODA)  And just as important, we know what doesn’t work.

:60 and :120 spots. Full length half-hour infomercials. iPhone and other mobile devices apps.  Corporate sales presentations. Landing pages to take orders and provide more info. Custom web design and video content for powerful Social Media Marketing … an especially potent tool for B-to-B marketing.

Cravey Dog Food Gravy

Your pooch is in for a delicious, nutritious treat. Never again will you get that look of “Hey Mr Originality, you try biting through those things!” when you clank in the dry dog food. Cravey is an organic, healthy, vitamin- and flavor-packed topping that turns dry dog food into a gourmet meal. We created this spot to launch this exciting young company. Check it out and if you’re a dog owner do your furry friend a solid and trycravey.com!

CleanCleanPC

A client is launching a new product in Japan called CleanCleanPC. (Right, all those ‘Ls”, I know …) We created a classic DRTV spot that, despite my Japanese being limited to “はい” I’m fairly certain lays out the benefits (clean up the junk on your hard drive) and asks for an action (go to a website and try the product). All the basic DRTV elements were employed and we’ll soon know if consumers all across Japan can 1) pronounce this product and 2) give it a try.  I know DRTV and I can guarantee they’ll try it.  As for number one, well, that could be a tall order.

Finally Fast

Recently, we created a simple DRTV spot that effectively uses actual customers. Navigating the testimonial waters is a delicate, FTC-monitored balance of truth and support for the truth. Here we worked hard and found a half dozen customers who had an authentic demeanor and a believable story to tell. Finally Fast dot com … remember the name.

Able Planet

Able Planet is carving into the market share of behemoth, Bose, with a technological patent advantage, solid products and forceful marketing efforts like this.

Pedigree Puppy

Pedigree Puppy Food asked us to convince new puppy owners to accept a Puppy Starter Kit.  Filming furry, bouncy and happy talent guaranteed our success.

Nestle Pure Life

Busy Moms need help – and Nestle Waters was ready to send the water delivery cavalry. We created a DRTV campaign that has been generating new home delivery customer over the last 12 months.

DRTV and video scriptwriting.  Directing and production.  Post production. SEO and Social Media Marketing. Web design that engages your audience.  m3digital is your all-in-one solution to creating compelling content for every screen on which you communicate. Bring this talented, energetic group of professionals onto your team to drive sales … and prove it with metrics.

CREATIVE
Jack Maley: Creative Director, Copywriter
12 years at Time Inc and Time Life as copywriter and Director of Advertising, 5 years at Saatchi and Saatchi as Creative Director, started M3 in 1995.  For Jack’s complete bio, click here.

Rebecca Bolde: Motion Graphics, SFX

Rebecca is the quintessential digital diva: a 3D-Motion Graphics-After Effects-Final Cut Pro designer who can, when necessary, go old school and actually draw. This School of Visual Arts grad has a sharp eye for detail and a gifted instinct for design that moves the viewer and communicates the message.  With roots in very rural Hudson Valley, she flinches at the term ‘diva’ but tolerates it as long as we don’t make any farm jokes. (How do you take a pig to the hospital?  In a hambulance.)

Gregor Patterson, HTML5, Flash programming, Mobile apps development

HTML5 programming and mobile apps development are Gregor’s specialities.  He’s an everyman-techie who can explain what’s going on with a piece of code and you actually understand what he’s saying.  Always on the cutting-edge of the next thing, Gregor’s a really-early adopter.  Oh, and he has ducks.

Lexie Kahanovitz, Copywriter
‘Ideas from beyond’ is what Lexie brings to the process.  Funny and quirky but always attention-grabbing and always on message.  In addition to working on yucks for Adult Swim guerilla creative artist Lexie has shot, produced and posted her surreal ideas on youtube (In the IKEA Bedroom … IKEA Office Anxiety).

Beth Klavir, Graphic Design
Beth’s love of design and ideation is evident throughout every part of her professional and personal life.  From her clean, compelling web designs to her eye-catching accoutrements, Beth combines strategy and simplicity for a powerful message.   Corporate logos and marks. Dazzling powerpoint presentations and packaging graphics. Microsites.  She’s a calm, inquisitive professional who’s a delight to work with … and wears some of the coolest clothes you’ve ever seen, mostly black.

MEDIA
Darren Ernest, SEO/Social Media
With the style, grace and intelligence that he brings to everything he pursues, Darren delivers social media marketing and web 2.0 marketing planning, SEO/SEM/2.0 campaign optimization, training, product development, and process integration.   He was Assistant Director of Search Engine Marketing at Neo@Ogilvy New York, the digital media arm of WPP’s Ogilvy & Mather, one of the largest global communication services companies.  Despite his youthful carriage, Darren has been helping clients maximize their website ROI for over 10 years which makes him an industry “old timer.”

PRODUCTION
Kris Brearton, Director of Photography
Kris’ talent behind the lens is evident in every shot he produces from shooting Kevin Bacon and Ed Norton for a elegant Sundance series to a hard-selling infomercial for Tigrent Inc. Adept with film, digital and the Red camera, Kris consistently delivers a beautiful picture and, at 6’4″, he can often just reach up to adjust the lights without waiting for a grip.  A real timesaver.

Mike Shane, Producer, 
Renaissance man
Mike – part high-end photographer, part production guy, part Staten Island good old boy – brings a “Yes I Can” attitude to everything he undertakes.  Creative, reliable, resourceful, he’s everything you want in a Producer.

Jon Baskin, Editor
One of the original digital editors on the Avid and Final Cut systems, Jon has perfected the edit process on major productions ranging from network shows, documentaries and promotions like Inside The NFL (winner of 2 Emmy Awards),  The Wire, The Sopranos, Big Love, Entourage, In Treatment, Six Feet Under, Rome, Deadwood, Sex And The City. He’s also cut commercials and web campaigns for Revlon, GM, Delta Airlines and Time Warner (winner of a Monitor Award).

John Wiggins, Sound, Music

Superstar mix artist (he didn’t write this!) who led HBO Studios’ audio department for 20+ years.  John has won Emmys (another just this year for HBO’s “24/7″) and many industry awards for his talent at the sound board. He loves scoring music and playing guitar in his band The Robinsons, escaping the city to his Long Island home and making anyone in his presence laugh until milk comes out their nose.

Click here to view the embedded video.

DRTV is a ruthless teacher.  You win no votes for style or cleverness.  If your spot doesn’t convert a viewer into a buyer, you failed.  No matter how great your graphics or how funny your concept, if the CPO doesn’t deliver you cut bait as swiftly as possible. To paraphrase Kyle Reese from The Terminator: “DRTV can’t be bargained with, it can’t be reasoned with.  It doesn’t feel pity, or remorse or fear.”

Today’s lean times makes this a particularly valuable lesson as there is precious little room for failure.

My career began in a recession.  As I sat in my first office on the 30th floor of the Time Life Building in midtown Manhattan overlooking Radio City Music Hall, I could watch the silent buzz of the city 300 feet below.  On the minds of all those little dots down below were the Ayatollah Khomeini and his “students” as they held American hostages, interest rates which were at a Sopranoesque 20% and even Prince Charles was in the news as he had just checked into a Florida hospital with a serious sunburn (which, today, has likely developed into skin cancer).  The year was 1980 and Judy the Operator from Time Magazine was about to shake up the world of DRTV.

Judy was my first DRTV experience as a young copywriter for Time Inc’s corporate circulation division.  The ad agency – Wunderman Ricotta and Klein – created Judy. I was a minor player from the client side helping to pull the creative together.  Judy went on to become a major force in DRTV. She gave Time magazine a neat, sanitary vehicle in which to hawk unseemly things like premiums and discounted offers.  This spawned the term “Judy Wrap” (not an urban beat but a way to ‘wrap’ your offer around your messaging).  The Brooks Brothers draped gentlemen in ad sales loathed Judy. The calculator-carrying circulation people adored her.  Judy was like Billy Mays with a poofy doo from the Connecticut Junior League who single-handedly morphed DRTV from the slicer/dicer world to the province of respected brands. Lesson #1: offer is king.

The Judy experience launched me into DRTV and for 30 years I have planned, created, directed, cut and shipped over 800 DRTV masters to scores of clients and hundreds of TV stations.

Some DRTV Dos and Don’ts

In DRTV your spot either works or it doesn’t so you learn something each time … like if you want to use celebrity talent, be creative when structuring your compensation offer.  We booked Joe Montana for a Sports Illustrated commercial with a handshake and promise of a modest fee payment. The payment was very reasonable, but Joe’s 3rd wife was not.  She was an actress who wanted to be in the commercial. We unwittingly turned her down. Through some SI arm-twisting we later learned it was she who forced Joe to drop out of the spot at midnight, 8 hours before the cameras were set to roll. We suddenly had a crew, a media schedule to fill and thousands of subscriptions to sell and no quarterback.

We figured the only QB who could replace Joe was Jim McMahon leading to this insane 6am phone call to his agent, Steve Zucker:  ”Yea, hi, Jack Maley here from Sports Illustrated.  Would Jim consider being in a commercial for SI?”  Steve replies “Yes, Jim loves SI.”  I press forward, “How about … today? Starting around lunch?”   We were shooting in LA and were prepared to fly Jim in on the next flight from Chicago.  Turns out, Jim was at a celebrity golf tournament … in LA … and was staying at a hotel across the highway from our hotel. The sports – and subscription – gods were with us.  We cut a clever yet McMahon-advantaged fee plus royalty deal and five hours later Jim showed up, sunglasses and all, and did a remarkable job. SI rate base met.

Other random lessons that come to mind … 60s clear better than 120s but 120s bring in a better customer … never schedule your shoot when a major snowstorm is due to blanket the city … don’t ask Dick Butkus to do anything that involves bending his knees … at minimum tease your offer upfront  … don’t let a branding agency buy your DR media … cartoons will fail 9 times out of 10 … no time frame performs like the first quarter … Bob Vila, Fran Tarkenton and David Oreck can sell anything … a real person looking straight into camera is the way to go if you have only one shot at making your spot work … don’t assume your viewer is listening, tell your tale with titles too … Lyle Alzado was a sunny soul and there’s no way those massive pipes were natural … don’t vary from the tried and true when creating spots that sell music – it will fail … humor works as long as it’s, well, funny … “offer builds” work if there’s substance to the build … and always test, test and test some more.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Then came branded DRTV

After working on Time Inc’s famous titles, my first big brand beyond publishing was Fidelity Investments.  In 1987 I was the Creative Director at Kobs & Brady in Chicago (just bought by Bates who was then swallowed by Saatchi) when a pre-world domination Howard Draft snagged a DRTV assignment from Fidelity Investments.  To my knowledge they had never tried DRTV and, like all brands, were worried the medium best known for the Chia Pet would sully their image.  So we created a spot where the benefits of Fidelity’s Magellan Fund were presented aggressively enough to make the phones ring but stayed true to the trusted Fidelity brand.  We chose humor to soften the impact of this then-exotic instrument called a “mutual fund.” The approach worked as thousands called toll free to get in on the Peter Lynch-led investment vehicle. (Alas, in every bubble there comes a bursting.  This success begat a follow-up campaign that was stillborn because, on the day we landed in Boston to present the storyboards to Fidelity, the stock market dropped 508 points on what is known as “Black Monday.” There are some things that even brilliant creative can’t overcome.)

HBO, Montgomery Ward, and Bristol-Myers meet Flowbee and the Thigh Master

Once some pioneer brands like HBO, Montgomery Ward, and Tupperware kicked the DRTV door open there was no turning back. Especially when big pharma burst in.  Pharma DTC marketing was rocketing with DRTV a massive part of their lead generation strategy.  They changed everything. DRTV were no longer scarlet letters.  Budgets exploded.  In a sign of making it to the adult’s table, DRTV spots were now regularly shot on 35MM film.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Through the 90s every category got into the act:  telecom like those non-stop MCI friends and family and 1 800 Collect spots, pharma, Internet IPs, credit cards, insurance … everyone was creating and buying direct response television. The industry boomed and with it came many pretenders, namely branding agencies.

Click here to view the embedded video.

At Time Life we employed the top DRTV media buying experts like Wunderman, Eicoff and Shain Colavito Pensabene. Occasionally an “image agency” like The Richards Group, or Oglivy or Geer Dubois would want to create a spot and, to make a little profit, buy the media.  No doubt there’s real talent at these shops, especially creative.  So the spots were well conceived and executed.   The media buying, on the other hand, was a disaster every time.  In the unforgiving world of remnant time, you can’t beat a hard-core DRTV media buying agency at their game no matter how much “media leverage” you have in the marketplace.  Unless you have daily experience negotiating rates, unless you have the right analytics tools and unless you know where the latest hot stations and markets are, you will fail at buying DRTV.  That lesson alone cost clients millions.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Eventually and inevitably, brand managers for packaged goods companies were soon jumping in with both paws. We created a campaign to help Mars Inc and their Pedigree brand find and serve the new puppy owner.  Across every category, including bug sprays (extermination below), brand managers were either exploring for themselves or being directed by management to “check into direct marketing.” True old school direct marketing is a real challenge for the package goods guys to employ.  They aren’t paid or promoted to recognize the long-term benefits a solid DM program will yield.  It’s also a big cultural shift to go from waving Nielsen ratings in the conference room to calculating the lifetime value of a customer hunched over a spreadsheet.

Click here to view the embedded video.

But online advertising is rapidly changing the game.  Online advertising IS direct marketing in hipper clothing.   The next few years will see DRTV migrate online and to your mobile. But despite the fancy digital tools and tactics the core principles of success will remain the same.

Wrap it up, Jack.  Give me an easy-to-remember acronym

Well, combining my direct experience over the past 120 quarters with what I’ve seen and heard throughout the industry, to have the best chance at DRTV success, think SODA.

SODA … Story

“Everything begins with a story.” Quincy Jones told me one evening over dinner at his house.  Robert Blake had just finished his soup and went home leaving us with a jaw-dropping story to carry us through dinner.  It’s the same with music, with film and with advertising:  start with a great story. Even if you have just 30 or 60 seconds, be sure there’s a riveting story at the heart of the spot.  The story can be the frustration felt by Verizon DSL customers who then had an epiphany and switched to Road Runner … or one about parents being able to send their kids to college because Fidelity Investments helped them save for it … or about retirees who successfully pulled off a reverse mortgage and now live cash-rich and worry-free. Always tell a good story.

Click here to view the embedded video.

SODA … Offer

Your offer must elicit “Wow!”

Your job is to have the viewer, while sunk into the sofa in a sugar haze, say to him/herself, “Seriously, how can they give away that much?”  If your offer doesn’t do this, you begin the DRTV process with one big hand tied behind your back.  Push the client to create the most compelling offer they can.  Test offers.  Test crazy offers.  You just may be shocked at how high an incredible offer can lift your response rate to pay for said crazy offer.

SODA … Demo

At the risk of sounding like Professor Obvious, TV spots are shown on TV. Many people forget this. Or don’t take full advantage of it.

Video is the most dramatic medium for demonstrating your product. So show it in action. Do circus tricks with it.  Animate it.  If it’s a service you offer like a wireless or cable connection, an insurance policy or a medication, use people and/or vignettes to do your demo work.  There’s always a way to show your stuff.  But show it.

SODA … Action

The old call to action.  This doesn’t simply mean to say, “Call or go online now!” as many times as possible.   Or make the URL flash in big yellow type.  Yes, you need to tell them what to do but you have to give them a good reason to do it and do it now. Like with an expiring offer, or maybe the time is now because of external circumstances (tax day is near, holiday season, legislation in congress may soon take this away).

Oh, one more acronym:  KISS.  Keep it simple, stupid.  Don’t feel compelled to amortize the cost of every second of airtime by packing in as many features and benefits as possible. As Salieri told Mozart, “There are simply too many notes. I can speak for the Emperor. You make too many demands on the royal ear.”

Click here to view the embedded video.

Recessions will come and go, times get fat and lean, but always, at the core of it all, is a great idea, well executed.  (With a real DRTV media buying agency placing your spots!)

Our long-time client RedPrairie was looking for a way to cut through the clutter of the dry, standard “solutions provider” pitch.  So we gathered some of the quirkiest actors in the city and asked them to play disappointed and fearful sales associates who wish their store employed our client’s software.  Cut through it does.

At the 11th hour our client was given 15 minutes to speak to a very targeted and influential audience at a video conferencing industry event. He needed a video to set up his message about how their video conferencing service could now connect multinationals and government agencies in even the most remote places on the planet. 72 hours later, viola.